At the start of the second world war, the Audacity was assigned to the 3rd Battlesquadron led by the Revenge-class battleshipHMS Resolution. On May 12th 1940, the Audacity encountered a Soviet battlegroup composed of the battleships Marat and Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya as well as two destroyer squadrons.[1]

During the battle, the Audacity managed to sink one of the Soviet destroyers.